


At the Dawn of Something New

by Sendryl



Series: The Darker The Weather // The Better The Man [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: All Some Children Do is Work, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, And His Handler, BUT NOT THIS TIME, I mean they all died once already, KakaObi Week 2020, KakaObi2020 Day 4: Reincarnation, M/M, Memory Related, New Names Same Faces, Past Lives, Sort Of, The Little Mystic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sendryl/pseuds/Sendryl
Summary: Souzu has dreams where he's tall and strong and scarred and so, so sad.He knows with a bone deep certainty that his dreams are more than simply the imaginations of his subconscious mind.They're memories. Memories of a past life. And they're terrible.His family abandons him, his students leave him, his friends die at his own hand.It's enough that he knows he was happy to die, that he greeted his end with a glad heart.This time around, things are going to be different.He's going to make sure of it.And Kiken is going to be there to help him every step of the way.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Hatake Kakashi's Mother, Hatake Kakashi & Hatake Sakumo, Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito
Series: The Darker The Weather // The Better The Man [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630276
Comments: 4
Kudos: 119
Collections: KakaObi Week 2020





	At the Dawn of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> This one's a bit dreamlike.
> 
> Here's a handy name guide, in case you get lost.  
> (I kept getting lost writing it, so...)
> 
> Souzu - Kakashi
> 
> Kiken - Obito
> 
> Minori - Sakumo
> 
> Roki - Kakashi's Mother
> 
> Tamari - Shisui
> 
> Keiko - Rin

  
  


Souzu opens his eyes for the first time a few weeks after he’s born.

Roki gives birth four months early, nearly killing herself with the delivery, and both she and Souzu are rushed into intensive care immediately after his birth. They both survive, and Souzu’s father Minori spends his time moving from hospital bed to incubator, wearing himself out enough that he almost misses Souzu finally opening his eyes.

They’re unusual, just like everything else about him.

Souzu’s hair was dark at his birth, slicked down against his head and tinted blood red, but now that he’s clean and dry it poofs up in wispy silver tufts, a shade brighter than Minori’s own hair. Souzu looks constantly unimpressed at the world around him, even swaddled in blankets with tubes feeding him nutrients. He’s strong for a preemie, growing quickly and already far healthier than any of the doctors expected. His chakra coils, usually damaged irreparably by a premature birth, are stronger than any the hospital has ever seen.

And when he opens his eyes, they’re two different colors.

**

Souzu grows up happily. He follows in his father’s footsteps, learning his skills and joining the Academy at the normal age, at his own request. He works in his mother’s garden on his off days instead of training madly like some of his peers, and she always laughs when he scares the crows away.

“I named you for the kami, not for the scarecrow,” Roki calls after him as he shoos a red-eyed crow away from her eggplants, and Souzu grins and runs to throw his arms around her. He loves his father dearly, but his mother’s hugs feel precious and rare, a memory to be cherished and carefully preserved.

Minori is shocked when Souzu _sprints_ to him and catches him around the waist in a rib-creaking hug one random evening as he’s returning home from a mission. He lifts his son into his arms - eight years old now, time has passed so quickly, Souzu’s far too big to be carried now but it’s the only thing Minori can think to do - and embraces him tightly.

“Souzu-kun? Is something wrong?” He asks, subtly checking his son for injury or tears.

Souzu shakes his head, still pressed into his father’s chest. He shifts just enough that Minori can see his eyes, Souzu’s nose and mouth hidden by fabric.

“I love you, Tou-san,” Souzu says, a strange emotion flashing through his bicolored eyes. “Don’t go anywhere, okay? We need you. Kaa-san and I will always need you.”

Minori blinks down at his son, a little confused, because he has to leave sometimes, for missions or business trips with his wife or clan politicking in the capitol, and Souzu’s never been upset about his frequent trips away from home.

But somehow, deep down, he knows Souzu isn’t talking about that.

Souzu’s always been strange. His eyes don’t come from anyone in their family tree, and the way he acts… Souzu sometimes stares off into the distance for a time, and when he blinks back to reality he holds ancient secrets in his gaze. He greets strangers like they’re old friends, children and adults alike, and whatever approach he takes to connect with them _always_ works. A few of the people in the village that Souzu avoids without question have already been exposed for terrible things, and both Roki and Minori have started to follow Souzu’s cues instinctively.

His friendship with Kiken-kun is the strangest thing of all, even though it’s a purely positive relationship.

And now there’s an age-old grief in his young son’s eyes that has no reason for being there, and it frightens him. It takes more effort than it should, but Minori smiles reassuringly down at his precious child.

“I won’t. I’ll always be here,” he promises, and he knows he can’t really promise such a thing, that there will always be circumstances outside his control, but he’ll do his best. “I’ll always come home to you and Kaa-san. I love you both too much to ever leave you, little lightning,” he says, and he means it. He loves his family more than he could ever hope to describe.

Souzu finally releases him, leaning back to grin up at his father, bright and full and free, and Minori throws him over his shoulder with a victorious cry, startling a whoop of laughter from his son.

“Let’s go tell Kaa-san the good news,” he crows, marching toward the house with his giggling son squirming on his shoulder.

Souzu stops struggling with a jokingly defeated sigh.

“Can we invite Kiken-kun over for dinner?” He asks, and Minori pretends to think it over.

“Why don’t we invite the whole family? It’s been a while since I’ve seen Tamari, after all. I bet he’s taller than you by now!”

“Tou-san!” Souzu laughs, half-offended. “Tamari’s only one year old! He’s a baby!”

“He’s probably grown a lot,” Minori muses. “You might be surprised.”

_“Tou-san,”_ Souzu groans as they march through the front door. “I’m _never_ surprised.”

**

Souzu and Kiken have been inseparable since their first day at the Academy, when Kiken was late to the opening ceremony and Souzu was standing outside the gates, despite his parents’ insistence that he go inside. He’d caught sight of Kiken as he bolted up the path to the Academy and lit up, and Kiken was drawn to him like lightning to ground.

“I was waiting for you,” Souzu said, and Kiken was confused for a brief moment.

Then Souzu took his hand and invisible lightning flashed between them, static electricity raising their hair and rustling their clothes, causing Souzu’s parents to jerk back in shock.

“Oh,” Kiken said, his mind whirling with memories that weren’t his own but _were,_ and he smiled wider than he ever had before, a calm certainty filling his small body. _“It’s you.”_

Souzu smiled back, and it was strange for Kiken to see his entire face, blemish-free and beautifully dear.

“Tou-san, Kaa-san,” Souzu said, turning to his parents. “This is,” he pauses, blinking in confusion.

“I’m Kiken now,” Kiken helpfully supplied.

“And I’m Souzu,” Souzu reponds, before looking up at his parents with the most serious expression he can make. “This is Kiken,” he tells them, to make sure they heard. “He’s mine.”

He sticks out his bottom lip, daring his parents to disagree.

“Lightning bug,” Minori says, “You can’t just claim people as soon as you meet them.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Kiken interjects, “I’m claiming Souzu too.”

And they do.

They complement each other so well there’s no question that they’ll be put on the same genin team. Their first year teacher starts calling them “ZuKen” and it sticks. They become the strong ones, the pair all their classmates look up to, and it would be easy for them to be the top dogs and lord their strength over their peers.

They don’t though. Souzu learned that lesson in his last life, and Kiken remembers far too well what it’s like to be considered weak, instead of simply ignorant. He could never be cruel over something so meaningless.

Instead they encourage their peers, guide them and suggest possibilities and exercises and new ways of thinking, and slowly but surely they pull their entire class up with them.

By the time graduation rolls around, there isn’t enough of a gap to justify labelling anyone as “dead last”, and the Academy is forced to throw that old tradition out the window.

It’ll be for the better, Souzu and Kiken know, as they receive their graduation papers and hitai-ate and head home to prepare to be put on a team the next day.

It’s just one more change they’ve forced the world to make, but it’s an important one.

If no one feels the stigma of being the worst student of the year, everything will be so much better. Kiken knows that for certain.

**

“I had another dream last night,” Souzu whispers to Kiken later that night, when they’re curled around each other on his futon.

Even as almost-genin, they’re still small enough that they can both fit easily, and they aren’t old enough yet for their parents to insist they sleep separate. Minori laughs whenever he sees them tangled up together, and he ruffles their hair, silver and bright white side-by-side, and leaves them to their puppy piles, while Roki smiles gently and covers them with fuzzy blankets.

Kiken’s been staying over more frequently now that his brother has started manipulating chakra. Little Tamari has started early, and you only have to see a toddler blow fire at you once to want a little distance. Last time around, Tamari had been a genius at shunshin, and neither Souzu nor Kiken can understand what’s caused the change there. Then again, last time Tamari had been a distant cousin, not a brother, so he’ll probably show even more differences from his old self as he grows up.

In order to properly figure out what to do about Tamari, Kiken’s parents have sent him to Souzu’s house for a little while, and since he and Souzu are almost genin, Souzu’s parents give them more freedom than ever before. They get to stay up late and whisper the secrets and plans that their parents think are all fun and games.

Souzu and Kiken aren’t going to correct them.

Kiken stares into Souzu’s eyes now, their faces mere inches apart, and the red eye that matches his own fills with tears. Kiken’s purple eye never cries, but his red eye always echoes Souzu’s, and sure enough he can feel a prickling sensation starting up as Souzu finally continues speaking.

“I dreamed that Tou-san,” Souzu chokes out, his throat clogged with grief and fear, _“Tou-san wasn’t moving.”_

Kiken shudders, and pushes up and over to pin Souzu in a hug. Souzu trembles underneath him for a while, but the tension slowly goes out of his body as the minutes pass.

He’s had similar dreams before, and he’s always young in those dreams, younger than he is now, which means that there’s no way it can come to pass. It’s just a regular nightmare now, not a memory. Not a premonition.

“You stopped it,” Kikan reminds him. “It’s already passed us by.”

Souzu nods. He doesn’t speak though, just grips Kiken tighter, and Kiken lets go only long enough to grab one of Roki-san’s blankets and wrap it around them.

They’ve both panicked over the dreams many, many times, and there’s only one thing that has consistently worked to calm them both down.

“We were standing in a gentle green sky, with stars shooting all around us,” Kiken begins, soft and soothing, and Souzu finally relaxes fully.

“You told me not to follow you,” Souzu responds, the familiar memory coming easily to mind, and Kiken nods, his hair brushing Souzu’s cheek.

“I didn’t want you to come running after me so quickly,” Kiken continues.

Souzu loosens his grip and Kiken sprawls to the side, laying beside him, the blanket still holding them close together.

“You were a helpless scarecrow in the middle of a garden,” Kiken laughs softly.

“And you were definitely in peril,” Souzu whispers, and he can never stop himself from crying at this part, when they remember how Kiken’s previous life ended in violence and sacrifice.

Kiken holds Souzu’s hand tight through their tears, as he always does.

“We said goodbye as friends,” Kiken says, and the tears are his own now, his breathing fast and uneven.

“Not as enemies,” Souzu agrees, his voice strained with sorrow.

They both go quiet for a few moments, lost in the memories of their past lives, their friendship and enmity and the countless moments they spent together.

Kiken turns his head first this time, seeking Souzu’s gaze. Souzu turns to face him with a smile, tears leaving long tracks across his face as they rush to the ground.

“Thank you, Kakashi, and goodbye.” Kiken says solemnly.

“Thank you, Obito, and goodbye.” Souzu echoes, just as serious.

They smile at each other, and greet each other in unison, voices overlapping.

“Hello, Souzu.”

“Hello, Kiken.”

Their ritual completed, both boys sigh in relief as the memories fall back out of reach, sinking down and away to lay distant and quiet in the back of their minds.

Kiken presses his forehead to Souzu’s. When he speaks, his voice is steady and clear, unwavering in its conviction.

“We’re going to change it all,” he proclaims. “We’ve changed so much already, Souzu. It’s all going to be better this time around.”

Souzu thinks of his Kaa-san and Tou-san and Kiken’s family, all alive and well this time around, happy and loved and cherished beyond measure. He thinks of their classmates and senseis, all the reincarnated souls they remember and care for and are already working to protect. He thinks of Keiko, their third partner, assigned to their team already according to the reports Kiken helped file, and he wonders if she’ll ever remember being a girl with purple clan markings who died far too young. Maybe he’ll be able to send her a spark, like he did with Kiken, and she’ll remember her past life too.

Even if she doesn’t, they’ll keep her safe this time around.

He nods in response to Kiken’s unyielding claim, and they both settle down to sleep. One of them will probably dream again tonight, and they’ll have to carefully piece together their plans from snatches of the memories of their past life. Their plans rely around the right words spoken to the right people at the right time, pushing certain people together and pulling others apart, and it’s hard work for two almost-genin, but they haven’t failed yet.

And they aren’t going to, Souzu knows, because last time they were each trying on their own.

Now he’s got Kiken at his side for good, and he _knows_ that they can work it all out.

Souzu drifts off to a peaceful rest as a final thought drifts through his head.

They’ll keep everyone safe this time around.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know guys.
> 
> I read a really cool dreamy fic last night and that writing style just GRABBED me and wouldn't let go.
> 
> So here's this. :D
> 
> Explanations for the names are - Kishimoto literally named a character Salad. Okay. I can put more thought into my reincarnation names than that.  
> So here are some names I made up with Google Translate and dubious kanji swapping.
> 
> Souzu = another way to pronounce "scarecrow" (Kakashi); also means "wealth", and is part of the name of the Shinto god of knowledge and agriculture
> 
> Kiken = another way to pronounce "distinguished person" (Obito); also means “peril” or "danger"
> 
> Tamari = pool; because Shisui = still water
> 
> Minori = fruit; because Sakumo = crop
> 
> Roki = road to hope; I took the inner two kanji from White Fang and stuck them together, because Kakashi's mom deserves a cool name of her own, and because she TOTALLY was also the White Fang. She and Sakumo traded off on missions and she used a henge. Fight me bro.
> 
> ZuKen = rugged/strong; I took the ending kanji from Souzu and Kiken and squished them together because I do what I want
> 
> Keiko = fluorescence; because Rin = phosphorus, as far as I could tell. If I'm wrong I don't want to be right.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> If you spot any typos please politely point them out, because I am tired and I misspelled "Souzu" nearly every time I typed it.
> 
> Fic title is once again from [MISSIO - I See You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUDsjB3qbVE). I just really love this song, okay??? The lyrics are so good!!!
> 
> Comments feed the beast! Seriously, nothing makes me happier and makes me want to write more than seeing comments. Even if it's just one word. Or just a heart. Or a bunch of exclamation points. I love comments.
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr. I'm [Sendryl](https://sendryl.tumblr.com) there too.


End file.
